Unknown Beginnings
by Snowflakes-GSR
Summary: Story about Greg's troubled past. Also shows how the team copes under pressure. ::complete::
1. Chapter 1

**Author:** Lithium Shamrock (LS)  
  
**Spoilers:** None.   
  
**Paring**: None that I can think of.   
  
**Authors note:** Just a fic showing the complexities of a character, and how everyone has a past (this time, its Greg's turn) – Greg's character really interests me post PWF and ITB – he seems to play the 'tortured soul' so well – also shows how the team works when the going gets tough.   
  
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_It had been a rough week for everyone. DB's were piling up in the morgue, and every ER clinic in Vegas seemed to be struggling with the patient intake. To top it off – Warrick and Catherine had just returned from a case where an eleven-year-old boy had been kidnapped. He was in the mall with his mother, and he pulled of to go into a toyshop. The police reckoned that it was planned, the mother was single – and the husband was dead – so there was no chance of it being a parental kidnapping. There was no motive, no clues, and no evidence. Well, there might be. They'd recovered a small amount of blood from the store – but that could be there for any number of reasons._   
  
Greg was busy in the lab. For once – he wished there were more people there to help – his caseload exceeded what he could cope with.   
  
So many samples. 

_Blood from a shooting. DNA from a rape. An unknown substance from an RTA. Each one demanding his attention, each one barely receiving it.   
_  
Every half an hour, another CSI would enter, and proclaim that their case was more important than what he was dealing with. Every time he had to politely ask them to leave. That would take up five minutes of his time. Five minutes he could be spending on another case.   
  
Grissom was the worst. 

He kept insisting that Greg should organising himself better – and Greg knew he meant well – but this amount of work couldn't be organised – just moved. And even if he attempted to organise it – that would only take up more time.  
  
"Got another case for you Greg," Warrick said, as he looked up to see both him and Catherine standing there. Warrick held out the file, and Greg looked at in disgust.  
  
"Can't you see I'm working here? Put it on the in pile," he said, with tones of annoyance.   
  
"No Greg." Catherine said, taking the folder from Warrick, and thrusting it into Greg's lap, "this is a kidnapping, of a child, it takes priority," she said, irritated.   
  
"Ok, ok, just put it over there" Greg said dejectedly.  
  
"Come on man!" Warrick said, voice verging on yelling, "He's just an eleven year old kid!"   
  
Greg looked unblinking at both Catherine and Warrick, got up, and swept all the paperwork of his desk, grabbed the folder, and started analysing the blood.   
  
Catherine and Warrick exchanged looks. Catherine raised her eyebrows, and breathed deeply, "ok," she said, elongating the word.   
  
Then her focus returned to Greg, he looked shaken. She placed her hand on his shoulder – "are you ok Greg?"  
  
Greg violently pulled his shoulder away from her touch, "I'm fine," he started, "let me work."  
  
Catherine and Warrick, again, exchanged looks, before leaving.   
  
"What's up with him?" Warrick questioned, looking at Greg through the glass. Catherine put her hands on her hips and sighed. "The same thing that's up with the rest of us, too many cases." She said, before walking of. Warrick remained for a moment, watching Greg's restless struggle.   
  
========  
  
"Where's Greg?" Grissom questioned. He'd got everyone together, mid-shift, to monitor progression, and assign priorities.   
  
"I haven't seen him since he got me the results on the kidnapping case." Catherine said, and Warrick nodded in agreement.   
  
"I saw him," Sara said, her brow furrowed in thought, "yeah, he was on his way out – I just assumed he was getting some air," she said with concern.  
  
"Anyone seen him since?" Grissom said, there were tones of frustration in his voice. Everyone shrugged.   
  
"Doesn't he realise this is not the time to go off?" Grissom said, it was evident he was loosing his cool. 

He'd decided to assign himself solo to a lot of the cases. He'd worked far more than his fair share – yet there were still more cases.  
  
"Look," Catherine started, she knew the last thing anyone needed was Grissom going postal, and her mind paused. 

_Did Grissom ever go postal? _

"He looked pretty messed up after we gave him the kidnapping case, you gotta give him a break Grissom – we're all over worked – but we have to remember – each case we work – he works to." She defended.   
  
"I know," Grissom said, closing his eyes, and rubbing his temples, "that's why we need him."  
  
*        *        *        *        *        *        *        *        *        *        *        **  
  
**_The shift continued. When anyone had a spare moment – they called Greg's house – they paged him – they checked his house. By the time the shift had ended, he was still nowhere to be found.   
_**  
***        *        *        *        *        *        *        *        *        *        *  
  
"Should we call Missing persons?" Sara said, she was really worried about Greg.   
  
"Sara – you know we can't report someone missing until 24hrs has gone by," Nick responded.  
  
"Yeah, but this is so not like Greg." Warrick added.   
  
"He does take his work seriously" Catherine concurred.  
  
Grissom was starting to get a headache. The week was full of unsolved cases, and to top it all, he was missing a lab tech. One of his own.   
  
"Right" Grissom barked, commanding attention. "We've done all we can for tonight, we've tried to contact him, and we've looked for him. We just need to face that for tonight at least – he might not want to be found. Sara did see him walk out of here of his own accord." Grissom reasoned.   
  
"Yeah, but as Cat said, he looked in a bad way." Sara muttered.   
  
"We all have good and bad days Sara, Greg is no different, I'm sure he'll be here bright and early for tomorrow shift saying he had a bad case of the munchies or something," Nick tried to lighten the mood. But failed miserably.   
  
"Ok," Warrick said, "you're right Gris. But if he's not here tommor-"  
  
"I will be the first to contact the authorities" Grissom assured.   
  
Everyone sighed, or at least exhaled loudly. "You've all worked hard this week – go home, get some rest."   
  
Sara started writing something inside a case file she had opened. "Go home Sara," he instructed forcefully.   
  
"In a minute." 

She opened a case file and started adding notes onto it.   
  
He sighed. Greg being missing was really affecting her.

"Go home and sleep", he said, taking her pen. She looked at him, she was visibly tired, but irritated at him taking something from her.   
  
She padded slowly out the room, and grissom followed. "Sara?" he questioned, half way down the hall, she turned. "Turn you're scanner off – even if it's just for one night."

_He knows me to well._  
  
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Do I continue? - please review.


	2. Chapter 2

  
Everyone was early for the start of shift. Well, earlier than usual. Grissom had decided to reside in his office, right up until he had to assign cases. He knew that as soon as he'd enter the break room – everyone would be hounding him to call missing persons.   
  
Even Grissom wanted to call missing persons, but he had his doubts on the authenticity of Greg's absence. After all, he did walk out. But the main concern plaguing Grissom's mind was that Greg might not want to be found. 

He remembered how once he'd just walked out – when he was younger – no-one had noticed, and he was appreciatory of that. 

_Sometimes, a person needs space. _

He didn't want to unnecessarily call in local authorities to something, which didn't even appear suspicious. Also, he didn't want anyone doubting Greg – or anyone on his team – state of mind.   
  
He gazed at the clock, thirty more seconds – and he would have to assign cases. He knew Greg probably wasn't here – he would have come to his office to apologise.   
  
He sighed. Today was going to be a long day. He got into the breathing room – and everyone was pacing, talking. Until they saw Grissom – then hungry looks for hope appeared on their faces. And the room was silent.   
  
Then, there was a knock on the briefing room door. Everyone turned, and expected to see Greg. They were disappointed. A young female, with short black hair, blue eyes was standing there. She was dressed in amber, and wore dark green baggy trousers.   
  
Everyone stared at her.   
  
"Hi," she said, slightly nervous at the silent atmosphere of the room. "Do you guys work with Greg?" she questioned, her voice wavering slightly.   
  
"Yes," Sara said defensively. She didn't like the fact that someone was delaying their efforts to actually find Greg.   
  
Everyone continued to stare at her, they were all wondering who exactly she was, but there brains and their mouths seemed to be disconnected.   
  
Grissom was the first to break out of the trance, and offered her a seat, he sat opposite her, and motioned for everyone to sit – he was trying to make the atmosphere seem less hostile.   
  
"Is Greg…ok?" she questioned, apprehension still in her voice.   
  
"He's missing." Warrick said in an abrasive tone.   
  
"Thought he might be," she said in a quite tone, looking to her hands, which she laid on the table in front of her.   
  
"You knew?" Catherine questioned, slightly shocked.  
  
"How?" Nick said, slightly concerned at the girls source of information.   
  
"Guys," Grissom motioned for them to take it easy, she wasn't a suspect. 

Yet.   
  
"Lets start at the beginning." Grissom said softly. He didn't want to scare her; she was obviously overwhelmed by this type of questioning. "What's your name, How do you know Greg, and how do you know he's missing?"  
  
Sara scowled at the girl, and Grissom. 

She'd be asking those questions in a slightly different order. 

Methodical was good – but this girl has answers.   
  
"My name is Melanie North. Greg and me used to go to college together, we meet up once in a while, talk about our jobs…" she trailed off.  
  
"And how do you know Greg is missing?" Sara said with a cold stare.   
  
"Its not my place to say," Melanie yelled over the table. She was here for Greg, no one else.   
  
Melanie breathed deeply, in an attempt to compose herself. "Let me guess – he's been working a case on a missing 11 year old boy," she took out a scrap of paper from her pocket, and unfolded it. "This boy" she said, pointing to the picture.   
  
"Yeah, that's the last case we gave Greg," Warrick said enthusiastically.   
  
"Does Greg know the boy?" Grissom said, slight concern was beginning to show in his voice.   
  
"Nothing like that," she said sharply, folding up the article, and putting it back in her pocket.   
  
Sara could see this was going nowhere. She could see Melanie's expression, it was the same a purp had before he start saying "No comment," she knew that she would have to soften her approach; and swallow her pride.   
  
"Look, Melanie. You just walked into a room full of CSI's – we're naturally curious – you say you have information – but you wont give it to us." She sighed, "we want to help him, we want to help him anyway that we can, if you can make us understand why he's gone…" Sara's voice, full of conviction, faded off.   
  
Melanie looked at Sara, then each CSI in turn. Greg had often talked about them; he often spoke of how much he trusted them.   
  
"Ok, ok. But if Greg doesn't speak to me again, ill know who to blame," her eyes landed squarely on Sara. "When Greg was 11, someone took him – kidnapped him – his mother watched him being taken by this man. Greg was gone for 7 whole days – then he just arrived back home."  
  
"My God…" Catherine exclaimed.  
  
Nicks eyes grew with fear. He never knew. From Greg's composure, who would have guessed?  
  
Sara's eyes fixed on Melanie. Her whole world consisted of what she was saying – here and now. She regretted the times she teased Greg – she regretted everything.   
  
"What happened to him?" Grissom said sadly, partly fearing the answer.   
  
"He never told me," She said, tears forming in her eyes, "he never told anyone – not his parents – not the police – not anyone. They never caught the guy"   
  
"God," Warrick mumbled, holding his head in his hands.   
  
"and…" she continued, wiping back the tears, "every time an 11 year old boy goes missing – so does Greg. He did it all the time in college. And every time, I'd find a newspaper clipping in his dorm." She finished, trying to smile. 

She remember the time Greg had told her – it was after the third time he went missing – she'd forced the truth from him – by blackmail – she said she'd only cover for his absences if he told her why he went away.   
  
"Where does he go?" Sara questioned in disbelief.   
  
"I …don't…know," she said between sobs, it was hard having to explain to other people. It was hard knowing that Greg had such a bad past.   
  
"How long will he be gone?" Grissom said, looking at Melanie.   
  
"Seven days." She stuttered, before completely breaking down. She'd been through his absences many times – but not knowing what happened him at the start – not knowing where he went – if he had money – where he slept – it was too much.   
  
Grissom laid a re-assuring hand on her back, and looked at the rest of his team.   
  
_Greg – each time - went away for seven days – the same amount of time he was kidnapped._   
  
Grissom closed his eyes and let out a disappointed sigh. 

_'He recreates his own kidnapping'_


	3. Chapter 3

It had taken Grissom a while to explain to the team that it probably wouldn't be the best idea to call in missing persons – but still they insisted they should go out and find him.   
  
After all – he'd left with his own initiative – and he'd done it before.  
  
Grissom also didn't want Ecklie or the sheriff finding out that one of his CSI's was a potential risk, if they knew, they might force him to fire Greg. Or make him go to psychotherapy.   
  
Grissom shuddered at the memory of "therapy" – and even more at the thought of the "TheRapist." He was forced to see one after his parents divorced.  
  
"We should go out, look for him," Warrick suggested, they were all still in the briefing room.   
  
Luckily the caseload had slowed – it was still heavy – but it consisted of 'backlog' – otherwise this 'extended meeting' wouldn't have been feasible. Grissom was only allowing it because of the exceptional circumstances.   
  
"We can't," Grissom yelled. He understood that his team cared, but, since it was one of their own – and didn't have a scene to process - they were not thinking logically.   
  
Melanie, who now had Catherine sitting on the desk next to her, attempting to comfort her, had just managed to stop sobbing.   
  
"It doesn't matter anyway," she said, her eyes skin dark with mascara. "You wont find him, I always look for him, I never find him," she said sadly.  
  
"Yeah, but we're CSI's man! We know how to find the un-findable!" Nick grinned with hope.   
  
Melanie exhaled deeply. "I work as a CSI too, over in Utah, so believe me when I say I tried to find him," she sobbed, a little anger in her voice.

She didn't like how they implied that she wouldn't know how to find someone she cared about. She knew there was a small amount of deception in this – technically she wasn't an official CSI in college – just a 'trainee' – but she knew if she didn't assert herself – they would assume she went looking in the wrong places.   
  
"I have to go…." She said with frustration. She knew what the team was going to endure. She didn't want to see people live through what she had lived through every time he went away.   
  
"Ok," grissom said quietly, and got up also. There was nothing else she could supply – information wise – about Greg.  
  
"Its ok," she said, when he got up, "I know my way out of here," she said, trying to smile.  
  
Grissom smiled slightly, "if you need anything day or night – or if Greg shows up-"  
  
"He wont!" she cut him of. She was irritated that these people would even imply her information was flawed in some way.   
  
She sighed.   
  
She knew there the main reason for conflict in the room. She had evidence that they couldn't test – because it was verbal – one person to another. CSI's – including her – were more used to something that could be placed under a microscope – or sent through trace. CSI's don't believe witnesses – and that's what she basically was.   
  
"Ok," she conceded, "I'll phone," she said, almost mouthing the last part rather than saying it, she turned on her heals and left.   
  
"I don't like her" Sara said, her eyes still fixed on the doorframe, making sure she wasn't coming back, and she folded her arms.   
  
"You don't like a lot of people Sara," Catherine began, " – but she had answers – well, she had some answers." She said patiently.   
  
"What now?" Nick shrugged. Although he was slightly reassured by Melanie – secretly – he wished she'd never come – then they would have called in missing persons, now, he knew Grissom would be reluctant to.   
  
"We wait," Grissom said in monotone, looking directly at Nick.   
  
"Griss? He could be in trouble out there! Just because he does it every so often doesn't mean that he's in any less danger!" Warrick raised his voice.   
  
"Yes, he could be in danger," Grissom yelled, standing up, "yes, we could go out there, scan the whole of Las Vegas looking for him, and we still might not find him." He continued, voice still raised, now slowly walking round the table. He stopped at Sara's chair, and placed both hands on the backrest, to support himself, "but we have a job to do. Do you think Greg would be grateful that we drop everything to go out and find him?" he said, exasperated.   
  
The team gave each other gilt-ridden looks. They were slowly beginning to acknowledge that there suggestions of going looking for Greg – other than being emotionally driven - would probably turn out to be fruitless.   
  
"I'll have a quiet word with brass, and see if we can get the PD on alert. But I have to warn you – if PD bring Greg in – I'm not sure how we'll cover this." He said, his voice softer.   
  
"We'll find a way", Sara said, looking to the team, who nodded in agreement at her, "I just know I'll sleep better if I know someone's looking for him," she said with determination.   
  
_'If I sleep at all'_ she thought silently to herself.   
  
"Right," Grissom announced, rubbing his brow, "We have cases that need our full attention," the team begrudgingly started to filter out the room.   
  
With the exception of Catherine. She waited until everyone had left before speaking. She was afraid to let the team know her doubts.   
  
"He'll be back, right?" her question had the deliverance of a statement, but Grissom knew she was looking for reassurance.   
  
"He'll be back," Grissom assured. "Now go," he said, indicating to the door with his eyes.   
  
  



	4. Chapter 4

_Greg had been missing for two days now. Brass had circulated a photo of Greg, and the PD were more keeping an eye out for him, than looking for him. It was mainly being kept quite – most of the police officers were doing it as a favour to brass – plus it helped that Greg was 'in the job,' so to speak.   
  
Grissom had written Greg's absence off as 'holiday leave' and most people in the lab thought it was just that.   
  
There had been no sightings – but every so often – if a member of the PD was in the lab, they would update their progress, which was virtual non-existent. But Grissom was grateful; most of the officers were having to cover-up what they were doing from their bosses – although on some occasions there bosses knew.   
  
But no one from PD was told why. All they knew was that this person needed to be found – and if he was – to use minimal force.   
  
Grissom paced the lab. The glass segmental walls seemed to only exaggerate his absence. Greg was a key visual figure_   
  
*        *        *        *        *        *        *        *        *        *        *        *  
  
"Hey," Grissom said, mainly to announce his presence in the break room. Sara was in there, alone, looking over crime scene photos.   
  
"Hey," she responded.   
  
Grissom sat down opposite her. She was really taking this hard. Grissom knew his whole team was responding in different ways, but Sara seemed to show her emotions the most.   
  
"I thought you were out working the arson case?" he questioned, sitting opposite her, placing his own case in front of him.  
  
"I am," she said, not looking up from the photos, "I sent a sample of liquid of to trace – I know its an accelerant – and I'm pretty sure it's a hydrocarbon – but I need the structural analysis of the chain length to determine what the fuel was," she reamed of, almost as though the science was first nature to her.   
  
"But these aren't crime shots of the arson," he sipped his coffee, and placed the cup back on the table, avoiding the sequenced crime shots.   
  
She sighed, and looked at him, "it's the Fletcher case, you know, the hiker who went hiking and was found un-conscious with two broken legs?"   
  
"Yeah, I know it, but I thought you ruled it an accident?" Grissom said, slightly perplexed at why Sara would be re-examining the case.   
  
"I didn't to begin with. I was so sure that……well, whatever I thought, I took some fibres from the scene and – lets just say I took them to Greg and yelled at him to 'get a move on' so I could clear the case." She said, voice full of regret.   
  
Grissom continued to stare at her, she decided to clarify.  
  
"I'm looking over the case to see what I saw that was so damn important to make me shout at him like that – it was the last time we spoke before…."  
  
"…. Sara, what you said to him had no bearing on the way he acted!" Grissom exclaimed, he hated the thought of Sara blaming herself.   
  
She collected up the photos, while Grissom continued to look her over. He doubted that she'd slept, and she looked agitated, "all I'm saying," she started, "all I'm saying is that I could have shown some more compassion. When each of us work one case – he works five."  
  
"We are all over stretched Sara, blaming yourself is going to help," Grissom insisted.   
  
"I know," she said sadly, tears forming in her eyes, "but I cant make the guilt go away," she said, in a partial sob.   
  
*        *        *        *        *        *        *        *        *        *        *        *  
  
Warrick had just come back from a burglary, unfortunately, the storekeeper had been too afraid to press charges – and didn't want the police – or any CSI's there.   
  
He saw Nick, sitting outside the Lab on the pavement, staring of into space.   
  
"You ok?" Warrick questioned, sitting down beside Nick.  
  
"Yeah – I just never realised how quiet the lab can be without music," Nick said, looking to Warrick. Warrick instantly knew he was referring to Greg. 

_It was all any of them seemed to talk about – and even when they weren't talking about him – they were thinking about him._  
  
Warrick smiled at the memories, "if you can call that music," he laughed a little, and so did Nick.   
  
Nick turned to Warrick, and said with sorrow, "It feels like he's dead – y'know – it feels like he's gone, and…."  
  
Warrick placed his hand on Nicks shoulder, "I miss the guy to Nick. The reason you feel like he's dead is because we're not doing anything about it," he said sadly.   
  
"I kinda am Warrick," he said, his Texan accent wavering, "After shift, I look for him for a couple of hours – bars, hotels. When I get home, I phone the airlines……"  
  
"You too, huh?" Warrick said. "I tried the airlines, they told me they don't give out that kind of information…."  
  
"I've kinda been abusing my CSI status," Nick said with a laugh. Warrick smiled at him, then both their facial expressions faded, and they just sat there, staring of into the distance  
  


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"Mommy, why have you been crying?" Lindsay questioned, curling up beside her mom. She hated it when her mom cried – she did it every so often after she'd been to work.  
  
"A friend of mine went away Lindsey – and mommy doesn't know if he's coming back," she in a motherly tone, pulling Lindsey onto her lap and kissing her nose.   
  
"But mommy, you go away a lot, and you always come back. You told me 'you always come back to the people you love,'" Lindsay said, reciting Catherine's words. She had a remarkable ability of remembering everything Catherine said – Catherine knew that would make her a difficult teenager.   
  
Catherine smiled, "I said that?" she exclaimed, half surprised and half questioning. She turned to see her daughter had fallen asleep, she smiled at her, she always did try to make her feel better. Her smile remained for sometime, the words 'you always come back to the people you love' providing comfort. Then her smile faded – she remembered herself shouting at Greg, so many times, for trace analysis.  
  
She could only pray that Greg considered the lab a loving enough place to return too.   
  
  



	5. Chapter 5

"No way!" Warrick said in disbelief, as he poured himself coffee.  
  
"Its all true," Sara shrugged smiling.  
  
"What is?" Grissom questioned coming into the coffee room.   
  
"Sara thinks she's solved the arson case."  
  
"Really?" Grissom said, interested.   
  
"Yeah, the liquid was a hydrocarbon…." Sara started.   
  
"As you suspected…." Grissom filled in  
  
"Yes, as I suspected, with chains consisting of about 15 carbons…."  
  
"……which makes the fuel kerosene……" Nick interrupted, which resulted in Sara whacking him on the arm  
  
"Steal my thunder why don't you!" she exclaimed in jest.   
  
"Kerosene, AKA jet fuel," Grissom said, with a small smile.   
  
"The husband was having an affair with a wife of a jet pilot," Sara said triumphantly, the fuel was the only to link anything together.   
  
"Hell have no wrath like a woman's scorn," Cath said, amused at the story.   
  
They all laughed.   
  
Then there was a prevailing silence.  
  
It occurred after every humorous conversation. Sara looked to the clock. "He'll be back in five hours, thirteen minutes, and fifty-two seconds,"   
  
Everyone was surprised at this. Everyone knew she was of course referring to Greg, but the fact that she could look at the clock, and just precisely tell the time like that.  
  
Grissom assumed she'd probably been watching the clock too much over the last week.   
  
"He will be back, wont he?" Nick asked the room, fear in his eyes.   
  
Cath patted him on the shoulder, "sure he will Nicky," she said with a sad smile.   
  
Grissom regarded his team; sitting, comforting each other, fuelled by caffeine. He remembered the day Greg switched the coffee to de-café to watch the teams' reaction without their daily fix…. damn he missed Greg.   
  
Grissom headed for the door, cup of coffee in hand. Although he would have liked to sit with his team, unlike Cath, he couldn't make promises to them– they'd all be hollow. He couldn't be sure if Greg was coming back, no-one could.   
  
"Where you going Griss?" Warrick questioned, leaning back in his chair.   
  
Grissom stood still for a moment, contemplating how to answerer this question. 'Where are you going?' Was asked a lot these days, almost as though they were making sure no-one else was leaving in the same manner as Greg.   
  
"The roof," he answered nonchalantly.  
  
He left, and the team were left to exchange confused glances.  
  
_Grissom never visited the roof._   
  
--------  
  
"Greg?" Grissom questioned, shocked to see the outline of the missing lab tech against the sky.  
  
"Hey Griss," he answered, still facing the landscape. His tone was normal.   
  
"Greg," Grissom repeated, walking up beside him, "you're on the roof?" He was extremely perplexed at the situation.   
  
"Now we know why you're the CSI, not me." Greg said with a light smile, looking to Grissom.   
  
Grissom looked back with a smile, not just because he realised the senselessness of his question, but also because, Greg was there.  
  
He looked ok.  
  
Well, physically.   
  
"You don't seem to be surprised, you know, to see me?" Greg said, there was little concern on his face, "I guess that means Melanie's been here." He said sadly.   
  
"Yes," Grissom said nodding.   
  
"Do you need an explanation?" Greg said gingerly, hoping Grissom would let it drop.  
  
"I need something Greg. I understand you went through something, but that doesn't mean you can disappear without a trace." Grissom said with determination.   
  
"For some reason I wish Catherine had found me…" Greg said with a smile. He presumed she wouldn't ask for an explanation. Of course, Grissom would.   
  
"I was eleven." Greg started, slightly choked. He inhaled deeply, and continued. "Young enough to be naive, old enough to know better. I was out shopping with my mom, in a supermarket, this guy just comes along, picks me up, covers my face with a cloth – with chloroform – and the last thing I hear is my mom screaming my name." Greg said, slightly choked, staring off into the distance.   
  
"That was the first day of the rest of my life," he said darkly, "after that, I felt I knew how the world worked," he said, cringing slightly.   
  
"You don't have to…" Grissom was slightly shocked at how easily Greg was divulging this information.   
  
From what Melanie said, he hadn't told anyone before.   
  
He didn't want to open old wounds.   
  
But Greg just talked over him.   
  
"He took me up to Oregon; he took me everywhere," he said, looking at Grissom for emphasis.   
  
"We went to museums, lakes, forests, amusement arcades, malls…." He trailed of, "everywhere a kid like me would want to go. It was like the best holiday I ever went on…..which is sick," he said harshly, in self-disgust.   
  
"Greg, the only reason he took you to those places was to justify what he was doing to you." Grissom said insistently.   
  
Greg carried on, either not hearing what grissom said, or not paying any attention to it.   
  
"On the seventh day, on the seventh day, I knew I had to escape……"  
  
"Why?" Grissom enquired, breaking the silence, immediately regretting his words after he spoke them.   
  
"…….it doesn't take a genius to work out the presence of shovel, plastic, and hydrochloric acid mean that you probably wont be around for much longer…." Greg said quickly and angrily, staring at Grissom.   
  
"He took me into the town, and I…. I managed to get away…. I just ran. It made me sick, for all that time I was with him, the only thing probably stopping me from leaving was my own fear," he spat in disgust.   
  
"You were lucky Greg," Grissom hissed, he didn't like the thought of Greg hating himself – for something that was beyond his own control.   
  
"Yeah," he started sadly. "You learn to forget though, you learn to forget 7 days of your life. But every time I see another 11 year-old boy – I think…."  
  
"You think he might be back," Grissom said knowledgably. It was natural for a person to assume if their demons weren't locked away – they'd be back one day. And Melanie did say that they never caught the guy.   
  
Greg nodded in agreement. "Yeah – so I check, I check every place we went – just to make sure." Greg said sadly. He was relieved that Grissom understood, he was expecting to be reprimanded in some form.   
  
"I feel…. I feel so guilty – I think – I got away – why cant they? – it's hard to explain." Greg said, his voice a crescendo of frustration.   
  
"But I enjoyed that week so much Grissom, well, the daylight hours, I feel like I'm betraying anyone who goes missing……"  
  
"Greg," Grissom said, still searching for the words, " You don't have to be ashamed of how you feel. You did what you had to, to survive. Just because he was 'nice' to you, doesn't mean he had any right to do what he did to you." Grissom heard his voice waver slightly.  
  
Grissom felt anger inside of him.   
  
He felt angry that someone had abused Greg.  
  
He calmed himself.   
  
"When a child goes missing, it's not your fault. You do not initiate it." His tone was informative, but instructional.   
  
"I guess you're right Griss," Greg said, and the look of confusion on his face was washed away by a week smile.  
  
"Of course I am," Grissom said in jest.   
  
"What do I do now?" Greg said, wincing at the thought that Grissom may force him to sign forms, do penance, or see a psychiatrist.   
  
"You go down to trace, and finish the cases you were working on." He said, with no tone or facial expression.  
  
"Thank you Grissom" Greg said sincerely. "Thank you for listening," he smiled.  
  
With that, Greg turned, and started walking to the exit, which lead to the lab.   
  
Grissom carried on looking at the landscape for a moment, before proceeding to the roofs exit.   
  
------  
  
"You're results are in." Grissom stated, coming into the break room, and taking a doughnut from the box.  
  
"Who's?" Catherine questioned not looking up from her 'cosmopolitan' magazine.   
  
"Yeah Griss, mine and Sara's or Nick and Cat's? Warrick enquired standing up.  
  
"Both." Grissom said simply, taking a bite from his doughnut, and walking out of the room. Everyone stared at each other, slightly perplexed, and decided to follow.   
  
Grissom was standing by the door of trace.   
  
Then each member of the team saw something through the glass. 

  
  
Someone.  
  


  
Greg.  
  
They all ran in, apart from Sara.  
  
"Wow, Greg, we missed you!" Warrick yelled hugging him. Subsequently, both Nick and Cath followed suit, all exclaiming how happy they were he was back, bombarding him with questions.   
  
But Grissom stood quietly, with a small smile on his face, watching the scene, and next to him, stood Sara.   
  
"You found him didn't you!" She exclaimed with a grin.   
  
"He found himself," Grissom added cryptically, with a smile.  
  
Sara stood staring at him for a moment, trying to work out what he meant, but decided she had better things to do. She walked into trace, and gave Greg a breath-taking hug.   
  
_He was back.   
  
Greg was back._   
  
-----  
  
Hope you enjoyed the story.


End file.
